PayPal Sues Pandora Over Logo

Mobile app icon is way too similar to PayPal's, company argues
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted May 24, 2017 12:15 PM CDT
PayPal Sues Pandora Over Logo
Famed window designer Simon Doonan holds part of PayPal’s logo as he shows off his festive holiday window display on Oct. 27, 2011, in New York.   (Diane Bondareff/AP Images for PayPal)

Pandora unveiled a new logo for its mobile app in October, and PayPal is now suing over it, saying it looks too similar to the logo PayPal uses on its own mobile app, the New York Post reports. Gizmodo has a comparison of the icons—a single P for Pandora and two overlapping Ps for PayPal, both of them blue and white—and Twitter users have been complaining about getting the two apps confused for months. PayPal's lawsuit cites that confusion in its suit, saying customers are accidentally opening their Pandora app when they're trying to open their PayPal app. The company points out more than 20 social media posts about the confusion as exhibits in its suit.

The trademark infringement and trademark dilution lawsuit says PayPal "has invested heavily" in its logo and that "one critically important function of the PayPal Logo is to stand out on the crowded screens of customers' smartphones and tablets." The suit accuses Pandora of "openly mimic[king]" the PayPal logo with full awareness of what the PayPal logo looks like. Why? Per Engadget, PayPal hypothesizes it was an attempt to take advantage of PayPal's popularity, since Pandora is struggling financially and "has no obvious path to profitability." PayPal wants Pandora to stop using the logo and pay unspecified damages; Pandora has not publicly commented on the suit. (More PayPal stories.)

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